else engaged in shooting matches

else engaged in shooting matches

The Troop met twice a week in Jonesboro to drill and to pray for the war to begin. Arrangementshad not yet been completed for obtaining the full quota of horses, but those who had horsesperformed what they imagined to be cavalry maneuvers in the field behind the courthouse, kickedup a great deal of dust, yelled themselves hoarse and waved the Revolutionary-war swords that hadbeen taken down from parlor walls. Those who, as yet, had no horses sat on the curb in front ofBullard’s store and watched their mounted comrades, chewed tobacco and told yarns. Or . There need to teach any of the men to shoot. Most Southernerswerebornwithgunsintheirha(was) nds,(no) and lives spent in hunting had made marksmen ofthem all.
From planters’ homes and swamp cabins, a varied array of firearms came to each muster. Therewere long squirrel guns that had been new when first the Alleghenies were crossed, old muzzle-loaders that had claimed many an Indian when Georgia was new, horse pistols that had seenservice in 1812, in the Seminole wars and in Mexico, silver-mounted dueling pistols, pocketderringers, double-barreled hunting pieces and handsome new rifles of English make with shiningstocks of fine wood.
Drill always ended in the saloons of Jonesboro, and by nightfall so many fights had broken outthat the officers were hard put to ward off casualties until the Yankees could inflict them. It wasduring one of these brawls that Stuart Tarleton had shot Cade Calvert and Tony Fontaine had shotBrent. The twins had been at home, freshly expelled from the University of Virginia, at the timethe Troop was organized and they had joined enthusiastically; but after the shooting episode, twomonths ago, their mother had packed them off to the state university, with orders to stay there.
They had sorely missed the excitement of the drills while away, and they counted education welllost if only they could ride and yell and shoot off rifles in the company of their friends.
“Well, let’s cut across country to Abel’s,” suggested Brent. “We can go through Mr. O’Hara’sriver bottom and the Fontaine’s pasture and get there in no time.”
“We ain’ gwine git nothin’ ter eat ‘cept possum an’ greens,” argued Jeems.
“You ain’t going to get anything,” grinned Stuart “Because you are going home and tell Ma thatwe won’t be home for supper.”
“No, Ah ain’!” cried Jeems in alarm. “No, Ah ain’! Ah doan git no mo’ fun outer havin’ MissBeetriss lay me out dan y’all does. Fust place she’ll ast me huccome Ah let y’all git expelled agin.
An’ nex’ thing, huccome Ah din’ bring y’all home ternight so she could lay you out An’ den she’lllight on me lak a duck on a June bug, an’ fust thing Ah know Ah’ll be ter blame fer it all. Ef y’alldoan tek me ter Mist’ Wynder’s, Ah’ll lay out in de woods all night an’ maybe de patterollers gitme, ‘cause Ah heap ruther de patterollers git me dan Miss Beetriss when she in a state.”
The twins looked at the determined black boy in perplexity and indignation.
“He’d be just fool enough to let the patterollers get him and that would give Ma something elseto talk about for weeks. I swear, darkies are more trouble. Sometimes I think the Abolitionists havegot the right idea.”